Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a titanic figure among the world's great authors, and
The Brothers Karamazov is often hailed as his finest novel. A masterpiece on many levels, it transcends the boundaries of a gripping murder mystery to become a moving account of the battle between love and hate, faith and despair, compassion and cruelty, good and evil.

Jane Eyre

Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.

Anne of Green Gables

With all of the pluck and charm of its eponymous young hero, Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Spotlight, Midnight in Paris) delivers a spectacular reading of Montgomery's beloved bildungsroman. In moments both funny and bittersweet, McAdams' voice is imbued with the spark that has made Anne a much-loved symbol of individualism and cheer for over a century.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of the 20th century's enduring works,
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

The Odyssey

The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude.

Lolita

Why we think it’s a great listen: Among the great literary achievements of the 20th century,
Lolita soars in audio thanks to the incomparable Jeremy Irons, bringing to life Nabokov’s ability to shock and enthrall more than 50 years after publication.
Lolita became a cause celebre because of the erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Nabokov's masterpiece owes its stature not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story that is shocking in its beauty and tenderness.

The Kybalion: A Study of Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece

He was the father of the occult, the founder of astrology, the discoverer of alchemy. He was Hermes Trismegistus, and as the scribe of the gods of ancient Egypt, he possessed all divine knowledge... which he passed on to humanity, though only those who have been tutored in its wonders can fully understand it.In this extraordinary 1912 book, three secret initiates to his teachings - who remain anonymous to this day - share their insight with all who seek to understand the mysterious underpinnings of the universe and our relationship with it.

The Book of Five Rings

Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.

The Divine Comedy

Renowned poet and critic Clive James presents the crowning achievement of his career: a monumental translation into English verse of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is the precursor of modern literature, and this translation - decades in the making - gives us the entire epic as a single, coherent and compulsively listenable lyric poem. Written in the early 14th century and completed in 1321, the year of Dante’s death, The Divine Comedy is perhaps the greatest work of epic poetry ever composed.

Beyond Good and Evil

Continuing where
Thus Spoke Zarathustra left off, Nietzsche's controversial work
Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most influential philosophical texts of the 19th century and one of the most controversial works of ideology ever written. Attacking the notion of morality as nothing more than institutionalised weakness, Nietzsche criticises past philosophers for their unquestioning acceptance of moral precepts. Nietzsche tried to formulate what he called "the philosophy of the future".

Wuthering Heights

"Wuthering Heights" is Emily Brontë's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centers (as an adjective, "wuthering" is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.

Love in the Time of Cholera

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of
One Hundred Years of Solitude comes a masterly evocation of an unrequited passion so strong that it binds two people's lives together for more than half a century. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral....

The Little Prince

"The Little Prince" was published in 1943 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is a poetic tale in which a pilot strands in the desert and meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world. While it looks like a children's book, it targets adult relationships with deep thoughts on how adults perceive life and each other. "Children should show great understanding towards grown-ups".

The Master and Margarita

The Devil comes to Moscow, but he isn't all bad; Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multi-layered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy,
The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.

Cry, the Beloved Country

This is the most distinguished novel that has come out of South Africa in the 20th century, and it is one of the most important novels of the modern era.
Cry, the Beloved Country is in some ways a sad book; it is an indictment of a social system that drives native races into resentment and crime; it is a story of Fate, as inevitable, as relentless, as anything of Thomas Hardy's. Beautifully wrought with high poetic compassion,
Cry, the Beloved Country is more than just a story, it is a profound experience of the human spirit.

Devils

Exiled to four years in Siberia, but hailed by the end of his life as a saint, prophet, and genius, Fyodor Dostoevsky holds an exalted place among the best of the great Russian authors. One of Dostoevsky’s five major novels, Devils follows the travails of a small provincial town beset by a band of modish radicals - and in so doing presents a devastating depiction of life and politics in late 19th-century Imperial Russia.

Dante's
Divine Comedy is considered to be not only the most important epic poem in Italian literature, but also one of the greatest poems ever written. It consists of 100 cantos, and (after an introductory canto) they are divided into three sections. Each section is 33 cantos in length, and they describe how Dante and a guide travel through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

The Phantom of the Opera

The story begins with an investigation into some strange reports of an "opera ghost", legendary for making the great Paris opera performers ill-at-ease when they sit alone in their dressing rooms. Some allege to have seen the ghost in evening clothes moving about in the shadows. Nothing is done, however, until the disappearance of Christine during her triumphant performance.

Gilgamesh: A New English Version

This brilliant new treatment of the world's oldest epic is a literary event on par with Seamus Heaney's wildly popular
Beowulf translation. Esteemed translator and best-selling author Stephen Mitchell energizes a heroic tale so old it predates Homer's
Iliad by more than a millennium.

The Aeneid

The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the
Iliad and
Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's
Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.

New Releases

The Woman at the Store

New Zealand-born Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. 'The Woman at the Store' is a sinister tale about a woman living at a remote farm and general store in New Zealand with her small daughter and sheepdog...and a dark secret....

Washington Square

Originally published in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, "Washington Square" is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble. The book is often compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships.

Thirukkural

Written by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil 10,000 years ago, Thirukkural and its Pearls of Wisdom is as relevant today as it was when written. Hence, it is known as a book for all ages. The Thirukkural is a classic Tamil sangam literature consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals. The Tirukku is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text known, such as Tami Ma ai (Tamil Veda), Poyy mo i (words that never fail) and Daiva n i (divine text).

Peter and Wendy (AmazonClassics Edition)

The Darling children of Bloomsbury have a secret. His name is Peter Pan, a mischievous night visitor who's somewhere "betwixt and between" a boy and a bird and who refuses to grow up. When Peter invites young Wendy and her two brothers to follow him back to his Neverland home, an adventure beyond any bedtime story unfolds.

Notes from the Underground (AmazonClassics Edition)

Isolated from society in a tenement basement in St. Petersburg, a malicious former civil servant vents his resentments. In the rambling notes that follow, we are exposed to the inner turmoil of the Underground Man, who represents the voice of his generation. An emotional, paranoid knot of contradictions, the spiteful narrator is also desperate to join a society he loathes, if only to prove his superiority to it.

The Getting of Wisdom

The Getting of Wisdom, a wicked and satirical novel on the pain and confusion of growing up, first appeared in 1910. A century later, it has lost none of its bite. One of the most memorable characters in Australian fiction, Laura Rambotham, aged 12, enters the portals of an exclusive girls' school eager to be accepted. But this precocious country girl is snubbed and ridiculed by her fellow students, who are richer, more attractive, and more adept at dealing with life's hypocrisies.

Jungle Tales of Tarzan (Tarzan: Narrated by William Martin 0)

"Jungle Tales of Tarzan" (1919) is a collection of twelve loosely connected teenage-Tarzan short stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan's First Love: Tarzan's courtship of the female ape Teeka. The Capture of Tarzan: Warriors of a cannibal village take Tarzan captive. The Fight for the Balu: Teeka and Taug have a baby (balu, in the ape language). The God of Tarzan: Tarzan discovers the concept of "God" in the books preserved in the cabin of his dead parents.

The Son of Tarzan (Tarzan: Narrated by William Martin 4)

Tarzan is about 34 and his son, Jack, around 11. Alexis Paulvitch, an old enemy, re-appears, and takes an ape to London and begins displaying him publicly. When the Claytons hear about the displayed ape, John decides to take Jack to see him. Tarzan is surprised to find the ape is his old friend, Akut, and begins conversing with him. Jack is amazed to see that. John then tells Jack of his life as Tarzan. Jack starts sneaking away to see Akut and begins learning the language of the apes.

The Return of Tarzan (Tarzan: Narrated by William Martin 2)

"The Return of Tarzan" is the second "Tarzan" novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan is 22 years old. The ape man, feeling rootless in the wake of his noble sacrifice of his prospects of wedding Jane Porter, leaves America for Europe to visit his friend Paul d'Arnot. On the ship, he becomes involved in the affairs of Countess Olga de Coude, her husband, Count Raoul de Coude, and two shady characters attempting to prey on them, Nikolas Rokoff and his henchman Alexis Paulvitch.

Trips to the Moon

"Trips to the Moon" is a second century satire by Lucian of Samosata. He ridicules the tendencies of Greek historians to enlarge the explorations of their fellow citizens. He condemns these practices in the first part: "Instructions for Writing History". The next part of the work is "The True History", which depicts a trip to the moon as a mockery to his magnifying contemporaries. The audiobook ends with "Icaro-Menippus: A Dialogue".

War and Peace 1

"War and Peace" (1869) is a classic novel by Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded as a central work of world literature and one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements. The novel chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families.

Around the World in Eighty Days

"Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne is an adventure classic. The main character is Phileas Fogg, a rich British gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires a Frenchman, Jean Passepartout as a replacement.

Ethan Frome

"Ethan Frome" is a novel by Edith Wharton, set in the fictional New England town of Starkfield. There a visiting engineer tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with a history of thwarted dreams and desires. The accumulated longing of Frome ends in an ironic turn of events. His initial impressions are based on his observations of Frome going about his mundane tasks in Starkfield, and something about him catches the eye and curiosity of the visitor, but no one in the town seems interested in revealing many details about the man or his history -or perhaps they are not able to.

Out of Time's Abyss

"Out of Time's Abyss" is a fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The book begins with Bradley, who had left Fort Dinosaur and never returned. Bradley and his party are attempting to return to Fort Dinosaur. Along the way, they encounter a creature that appears to be a flying dead man. Some of the members of the party consider it a ghost or banshee. Tippet is convinced that he is soon to die, and the next day a Tyrannosaurus kills him. The ghost-like creature is seen again, and James is killed by a Smilodon.

The People That Time Forgot

"The People that Time Forgot" begins with the organization of an expedition to rescue Bowen J. Tyler, Lys La Rue, and the other castaways marooned on the large Antarctic island of Caprona, whose tropical interior, known to its inhabitants as Caspak, is home to prehistoric fauna of all eras. Tyler's recovered manuscript detailing their ordeal is delivered to his family, and Tom Billings, secretary of the Tyler shipbuilding business, put the relief effort together.

Michael Strogoff

Michael Strogoff, a 30-year-old native of Omsk, is a courier for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The Tartar Khan (prince), Feofar Khan, incites a rebellion and separates the Russian Far East from the mainland, severing telegraph lines. Rebels encircle Irkutsk, where the local governor, a brother of the Tsar, is making a last stand. Strogoff is sent to Irkutsk to warn the governor about the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a former colonel, who was once demoted and exiled and now seeks revenge against the imperial family.

The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe. The audiobook starts with the statement about Crusoe's marriage in England. He bought a little farm in Bedford and had three children. He suffered a distemper and a desire to see "his island." When Providence unhinged him with the loss of his wife, he sets to sail and returns to his island.

Anna Karenina

"Anna Karenina" is the tragic story of a married aristocrat/socialite and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky, a bachelor. He is eager to marry her if she will agree to leave her husband Karenin, a senior government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church, her own insecurities, and Karenin's indecision. A parallel story is that of Konstantin Levin, a wealthy country landowner who wants to marry Princess Kitty.

The Secret History of Pythagoras

Do they not believe that the sun, moon and stars are no bigger than they seem? That the bright luminary of the day falls into the sea at night, and rises out of it in the morning. The translation of this venerable piece of antiquity is undertook upon a double score; being defined as well to entertain the curiosity of the learned.

Eugene Oneguine

"Eugene Oneguine" (1833) is a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. The work is admired for the artfulness of its verse narrative as well as for its exploration of life, death, love, world-weariness, convention and passion. Excerpt from the book: Having performed his service truly, Deep into debt his father ran; Three balls a year he gave ye duly, At last became a ruined man. But Eugene was by fate preserved, For first "madame" his wants observed, And then "monsieur" supplied her place; The boy was wild but full of grace.

Jane Eyre

Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.

Anne of Green Gables

With all of the pluck and charm of its eponymous young hero, Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Spotlight, Midnight in Paris) delivers a spectacular reading of Montgomery's beloved bildungsroman. In moments both funny and bittersweet, McAdams' voice is imbued with the spark that has made Anne a much-loved symbol of individualism and cheer for over a century.

The Divine Comedy

Renowned poet and critic Clive James presents the crowning achievement of his career: a monumental translation into English verse of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is the precursor of modern literature, and this translation - decades in the making - gives us the entire epic as a single, coherent and compulsively listenable lyric poem. Written in the early 14th century and completed in 1321, the year of Dante’s death, The Divine Comedy is perhaps the greatest work of epic poetry ever composed.

Japanese Fairy Tales

Here are 22 charming Japanese Fairy Tales, translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki, including "My Lord Bag of Rice", "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow", "The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad", "The Farmer and the Badger", "The Shinansha, or the South Pointing Carriage", "The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy", "The Story of Princess Hase", "The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die", "The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moonchild", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", and more.

Aesop’s Fables

These classic fables use simple allegories to convey universal truths. Though it is unkown if Aesop ever actually existed, dating back to the sixth century, BC, these fables are known in cultures throughout the world and have been translated into many languages.

Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories

In the six volumes of the Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. Some of the stories appeared in this 1907 collection for the first time translated into English, and many of them come from unexpected sources, such as the letters of Pliny the Younger, or a Tibetan manuscript. In the first volume, we find stories written by American authors.

The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography

While many of us are familiar with such famous words as, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here. . ." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated with The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters.

The Arabian Nights

Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance,
The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Scheherazade, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Scheherazade always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever.

Indian Fairy Tales

India is often reputed to be the home of the fairy tale. Here are some of the best from the sub-continent, from the Jatakas to the folktales of Kashmir. You'll hear stories about the evil magician Punchkin, the magic fiddle, and more.

The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates

Xenophon was a Greek who admired and studied with Socrates. He marched with the Spartans and later was exiled from Athens. He wrote about the history of his times, the sayings of Socrates and about life in Greece. Edward Bysshe translated Xenophone's work in 1702. This translation has continued to have an excellent reputation. In this work Xenophon discusses the views of life taught by Socrates.

Invitation to a Beheading

Like Kafka's The Castle, Invitation to a Beheading embodies a vision of a bizarre and irrational world. In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for "gnostical turpitude", an imaginary crime that defies definition.

Thousand Cranes

With a restraint that barely conceals the ferocity of his characters' passions, one of Japan's great postwar novelists tells the luminous story of Kikuji and the tea party he attends with Mrs. Ota, the rival of his dead father's mistress. A tale of desire, regret, and sensual nostalgia, every gesture has a meaning, and even the most fleeting touch or casual utterance has the power to illuminate entire lives - sometimes in the same moment that it destroys them.

Popular Tales from the Norse

This is George Dasent's classic collection of Scandinavian folklore. This is not about Norse mythology per se; so if you are looking for tales of Odin, Loki, and Freya etc., you will have to look elsewhere. Rather, this is an anthology of folk tales, similar to the Grimm Brothers', or Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands. All of the usual suspects are in place, including giants, trolls, witches, evil step-siblings, magical boons and tasks, and anthropomorphic animals.

Bend Sinister

The first novel Nabokov wrote while living in America, and the most overtly political novel he ever wrote, Bend Sinister is a modern classic. While it is filled with veiled puns and characteristically delightful wordplay, it is, first and foremost, a haunting and compelling narrative about a civilized man caught in the tyranny of a police state. Professor Adam Krug, the country's foremost philosopher, offers the only hope of resistance to Paduk, dictator and leader of the Party of the Average Man.

The Ramayana

The Ramayana is one of the best-known epics in the world. It is the tale of Rama, the Prince of Ayodhya, who exiles himself to the forest for 14 years to honor his father's Word. In the forest, Rama, his wife, Sita, and his brother, Lakshmana, meet new friends and unusual foes, and each day brings new adventures. But Ravana of Lanka, the King of Demons, ruins it all by abducting Sita. To rescue her, Rama enlists the help of Hanuman and his monkey army.

Thirukkural

Written by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil 10,000 years ago, Thirukkural and its Pearls of Wisdom is as relevant today as it was when written. Hence, it is known as a book for all ages. The Thirukkural is a classic Tamil sangam literature consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals. The Tirukku is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text known, such as Tami Ma ai (Tamil Veda), Poyy mo i (words that never fail) and Daiva n i (divine text).

Inferno

The most captivating part of perhaps the greatest epic poem ever written, Dante's Inferno still holds the power to thrill and inspire. The medieval equivalent of a thriller, Inferno follows Dante and his faithful guide, Virgil, as they traverse the complex geography of hell, confronting its many threats, macabre punishments, and historical figures before reaching the deep chamber where Satan himself resides.